The present invention relates to a new and distinct summer/fall bearing grapevine variety, botanically known as Vitis vinifera, and hereinafter referred to by the name ‘MERLOT KANTHUS’.
The new grapevine ‘MERLOT KANTHUS’ is a product of a controlled breeding program conducted by the inventors in Udine, Italy. The objective of the breeding program was to deyelop a new grapevine variety particularly characterized by resistance to cold (<−20° C.), resistance to downy mildew (Plasmopara viticola), and tolerance to powdery mildew (Uncinula necator).
The new grapevine ‘MERLOT KANTHUS’ originated from a cross made by the inventors in 2002 in Udine, Italy. The female or seed parent is the grapevine variety, Vitis vinifera cv. ‘Merlot’ (unpatented), and the male or pollen parent is the grapevine variety, Vitis cv. ‘20/3’ (Bianca×SK77-4/5) (unpatented).
The new grapevine ‘MERLOT KANTHUS’ was discovered and selected by the inventors as a single flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross in a controlled environment in 2002 in Udine, Italy. Asexual reproduction of the new grapevine variety by grafting was first performed in February 2004 in Rauscedo, Friuli Venezia Giulia region, Italy, and has demonstrated that the combination of characteristics as herein disclosed for the new cultivar are firmly fixed and retained through successive generations of asexual reproduction. The new cultivar reproduces true to type.